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Birthdays!

I love celebrating birthdays. Any holiday, really. Especially when the person who gets the gift loves handmade. Then I'm really celebratory. It was one of my best friend's birthdays this past week, and I got together with her to enjoy the Farmer's Market, and gave her a ruffled tea towel and an oven mitt, loosely patterned from Rachel Denbow'sinstructions from my online art class.

I also stenciled a pretty brown flower motif onto a lamp shade, and found a cute modern base to go with it. I am a big fan of the printer, Lotta Jansdotter, and this was partially an idea from my online class, partially her. The stencil came from her book, Lotta Prints. It's one book I constantly go back to for inspiration. I use Jaquard textile color from Artist & Craftsman Supply.

Up next is my little Bug's 3rd birthday invites! We do very small get togethers for their birthdays. Last year, we didn't even do anything for either of them (2nd or Ani's first) because I just couldn't get it together in time. This year, though, I am on the ball. I made his invites (we do immediate family only to keep it small) out of scraps I had and some blank recycled cards from Hobby Lobby. I get a pack of 50 and make all the cards I use throughout the year with these. VERY economical, fun, and cute! I made them a summer tree theme, since his birthday is the first day of summer!

His birthday will be celebrated with a small picnic on the Sheldon Art Museum's green space an hour before Jazz in Junestarts. We'll get there early for a good spot, and listen to the jazz until the kids need to go to bed. Free, cheap, and fun.I'll post his homemade birthday gifts once I get them done, even Stefan is participating in this year's gift!***What is your favorite way to celebrate birthdays?

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StephG said…

CUTE invites! We always keep it small too. For W's 3rd B-Day, we took a trolley ride through SD, then came home for a Pizza Party/Movie Night/Slumber Party. We all had a blast!

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